On Tuesday, June 13, 2006 at approximately 5 a.m. I was traveling southbound on I-71 through Ohio near mile marker 70 (30 miles south of Columbus) when I noticed a bright white light off to the left (East) side of the road. At first I thought it was an airplane because I saw a center white light with two smaller lights on either side of the object, like landing lights on wings. Also, I could tell there was at least one blinking light on the bottom, which appeared red. As I got closer I could tell the object was stationary at an altitude of approximately 300 feet and a distance of perhaps a ¼ mile off of the highway.

When parallel to the object I could tell this was definitely not an airplane, due to being stationary, and definitely not a helicopter, due to several bright white lights being on top of the object as well. At this distance I could still not determine the exact shape of the object, but could tell that it had very intense white lights on all surfaces, a red blinking light on the bottom and perhaps a blue blinking light on the bottom. Due to the blinking lights I was not very suspicious since blinking lights usually signal to me that it is some type of known aircraft.

As I continued south I saw 11 more of these objects, all between mile marker 70 and 50, for a total of 12. All had the same description as the one above and all were stationary between 200 and 400 feet off the ground and from ¼ to 1 mile off to the left the road. Most were somewhat equally spaced in distance as I traveled down the road, but I saw one occurrence of 3 in a triangular pattern with a distance of maybe a ¼ mile in between each. This area of Ohio is mostly flat open farmland with small gatherings of houses and buildings (maybe 4 or 5 in a group). All of these objects seemed to be above these groups of houses.

When I approached mile marker 50, I hadn't seen one of these objects in perhaps 5 miles when I suddenly noticed one off to the left again but this one was moving parallel to I-71. After a mile or so the object turned southeast and left the area very quickly, followed closely by 3 more of these objects. They finally faded out of side just before mile marker 50. I believe these to be objects that I had previously seen so I did not add them to my count. This was the last I saw of these objects that morning. I was heading out of state at the time and returned at the end of the week. While out of town I thought about what I had seen and came upon the idea that these may have been the tops of radio or other communications towers and I would look for these the next time I traveled through the area. I was skeptical of this idea however since I looked for frames under the lights but could not see anything.

On Friday, June 16, 2006 I traveled back through the area at approximately 10 p.m. going northbound. I began watching the skies around mile marker 50 to see if any of these objects remained. I saw several radio towers, but all of these had blinking red lights along their frames and these frames were easily visible in the dark. I approached mile marker 60 near Jeffersonville and still had not seen anything when I noticed 2 lights on the left side (west this time) of I-71 and they looked very similar to what I had seen earlier in the week. These lights were still about 5 miles ahead of me perhaps around mile marker 65.

As I got closer I could see the lights better and they were on the west side of 71 approximately ¼ mile apart and much to my surprise, one was slowly moving out overtop 71. Even more to my surprise I knew I was going to be driving directly under the object. The object was a very pronounced ((??)), with large circular blue lights running along the entire bottom of the shape, perhaps 6 or 7 on each length of the "V". On the tip of the object, there was a flashing red light on the bottom. The leading edges of the object were covered with bright white lights as well as the top.

I was not the only person to see this object, since I noticed several truckers and motorists looking up. Realizing that I was now going only 40 MPH as well as a few people around me, I became aware that this object could perhaps cause an accident. Because of this fact, and the fact that I now needed a new pair of pants, I called the State Police and talked to the sergeant on duty at the Wilmington branch. He was very professional and said he would have a trooper report to the area immediately.

I do not know if anything was ever reported by the State Police, or if anything else ever came of the situation, I left the area very quickly and have only been back through during the day. If anyone doubts my thoughts and views on this matter, please let me give you a bit of my background so perhaps you can understand my reasoning. I am a mechanical engineering student at the University of Cincinnati, so I understand the basics of what is and isn't possible with aircraft. I grew up near the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida where my father was stationed with the Marines in the air wing. Over the years I have seen my share of aircraft fly ranging from biplanes, WWII era prop fighters and bombers, to modern day fighters and bombers including the F-117 Stealth fighter, B-1 and B-2 bombers, and specialty aircraft such as the SR-71 Blackbird and UAVs such as the Predator. Besides fixed wing vehicles, I have also seen several examples of helicopters from Loaches, Hueys, Blackhawks, Apaches, Cobras, and Chinooks, to private crafts like Medivacs, and other Search and Rescue craft. Being from East Central Ohio I have had my encounters with blimps (Goodyear) and with hot-air balloons too.

I know that this area that I was traveling through is in the approach and exit patterns for Wright-Patt Air Force base and Port Columbus International, but I have never seen any fixed wing aircraft that can hover or move as slowly as these objects did, or any other aircraft with this distinct shape and light pattern. Hopefully someone else saw these events too.